The first VHS VCR was launched 21 years ago this Autumn.
Rick Maybury -- no spring chicken himself -- remembers it well and charts the
history of the world’s most successful home video recording system

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A little piece of consumer electronics history was made on
September 7th 1976 in the conference room at the Okura Hotel in Tokyo. A group
of JVC executives nervously unveiled the very first VHS video recorder, and
with good reason. Just a few months earlier Sony had begun selling their
Betamax VCRs in and JVC had been under pressure from the Japanese Ministry of
International Trade and Industry (MITI) to abandon VHS and back Betamax, rather
than engage in a damaging format war. VHS made it against all the odds; it was
in trouble almost from day one and almost didn’t make it on several occasions.

The VHS story began after the launch of the U-Matic
industrial and broadcast video recording system in 1969. In a rare display of
co-operation the U-Matic specification had been agreed up on by Sony Matsushita
and JVC. Buoyed by their success with U-Matic the three companies turned their
attention to developing a home video recording system. At that time the only domestic video
cassette recorders were made by Philips, however they were expensive,
unreliable and sold in relatively small numbers.

Sony elected to develop a compact version of U-Matic, using
a half-inch wide tape and the same type of loading system as its bigger
brother. This led quickly to Betamax, and after a relatively short period of
development it went into production in 1975. In the early 1970’s Matsushita
began work on their cassette system, which they called XV. It was dogged by
technical difficulties and never progressed much further than the prototype
stage. JVC also decided to go their own way and start from scratch. They set up
a small development team under the direction of Kenjiro Takayanagi and led by
senior engineers Yuma Shiraishi and Shizuo Takano. Twenty years earlier
Takayanagi had brought Takano and Shiraishi together to work on video recording
systems and in 1959 they had overseen development the KV-1, the world’s first
twin head helical scan video recorder, the granddaddy of all of today’s VCRs.

The team’s first job was to work out the basic
specifications for their system; this came together in a historic document
called the VHS Development Matrix. Incidentally, officially VHS stands for
Video Home System, though rumours persist that it originally stood for video
helical scan, but JVC PR people concluded that it was a bit too teccy for
public taste.

The Development Matrix set out twelve objectives. They all
seem pretty obvious now but a quarter of a century ago it was considered quite
radical. It listed five key features the system must have: the equipment had to
be compatible with any ordinary TV; picture quality must be similar to a normal
off-air broadcast; it must have at least a 2-hour recording capacity; tapes
must be interchangeable between machines, and it should be versatile, which
appears to imply that it should be able to tape TV programmes, and be used with
a video camera. They identified six key consumer and manufacturing
requirements: players should be affordable, easy to operate and have low
maintenance costs. It must be capable of being produced in high volumes, parts
must be interchangeable, and decks must be easy to service. Lastly, and
unusually for 1971, JVC considered the social implications of a new technology,
recognising the role it would have to play in what they dubbed the ‘information
society’.

Soon after the matrix had been finished senior management at
JVC had an unexpected change of heart. Budgets were cut, the project was
shelved and most of the team disbanded, but Shirashi and what was left of his
group decided to continue their work in secret. They built a series of
development machines -- the first one was completed in 1973 -- and the current
specification was more or less fixed by the fourth prototype. The project
gained an important ally following a visit to the company’s Video Projects
Division by Konosuke Matsushita, the Chairman of JVC’s parent company
Matsushita in 1973. He was impressed by what he saw and his support proved
vital. At the time he was considering approaches from Sony and was thinking
about backing Betamax.

During 1974 the VHS team had the opportunity to see a
prototype Betamax video recorder, which was due to go into production the
following year. They were surprised to discover that it was a lot larger than
their own prototype, and it could only record for one hour, half as long as
their own machine. Sony repeated their offer to JVC to join with them and
develop Betamax, but the team now had even more confidence in their system and
the decision to continue was taken.

The future success of VHS was by no means a foregone
conclusion. Betamax wasn’t the only home video recording system JVC had to
worry about. By 1974 BASF had demonstrated a fixed head video recording system
called LVR (longitudinal video recording). Meanwhile, Philips and Grundig had
updated their VCR format with increased recording times and improve
reliability, furthermore work had started on the Philips V2000 system, which
offered substantially longer playing times and better picture quality using
double-sided cassettes.

Even after the launch things didn’t go smoothly. Sales were
initially quite good but within a few months they had fallen back and once
again the format’s future was on the line. The development team’s unshakeable
faith in their system encouraged JVC to continue and a successful launch in the
US in 1977 gave the format sufficient momentum for JVC to tackle the tricky
European market.

The first PAL VHS video recorder was the JVC-3320. Sales
were quite slow in Germany and Holland due to the dominance of the home brands
(Philips and Grundig) but it was a different story in the UK. Sony had started
to make a small impression with Betamax but the public regarded video recorders
as unreliable, expensive to repair, and liable to become obsolete if one of the
competing formats failed.

The most important feature of the UK market was an early
alliance between JVC and Thorn, who owned the Ferguson brand and several
high-street TV rental chains. Thorn had been courted by Philips, in an attempt
to win them over to the V2000 system, which was still on the drawing board, but
their offer was simply to badge-engineer Philips machines. JVC on the other
hand were happy to supply cosmetically distinctive machines to Thorn and various
other companies, thus making the choice of machines appear much larger than it
actually was.

The VCR rental market thrived, spurred on by the emergence
of pre-recorded tapes. VHS also became the format of choice for early video
pornographers. Indeed, the availability of smutty films and pirate movies on
VHS did much to boost the format’s popularity in those early days. It took the
law several years to catch up with video recording technology.

By 1981 the format battle was in full swing, but VHS has
begun to establish a commanding lead, at least as far as numbers of brands were
concerned. In the Betamax camp there were Sony, Sanyo, Toshiba and NEC. VHS on
the other hand included Akai, Ferguson, GEC Hitachi, JVC, Mitsubishi,
Nordmende, Panasonic, Sharp and Telefunken. By that time the V2000 system had
been launched and the line-up included Philips, Pye, Grundig and ITT.

Technical developments flowed thick and fast during the
early 1980s. AV performance of VHS and Beta both improved dramatically. Betamax
picture quality was widely reckoned to be superior to VHS, though the actual
differences were very small indeed and better VHS tape formulations closed the
gap entirely. New features appeared almost simultaneously on VHS and Beta. They
included picture search and steady
still frame, infra-red remote controls.
Then came lightweight portable, battery-powered decks. The first models
with stereo hi-fi sound and half-speed or LP recording facilities were launched
in 1983. Compact VHS-C decks and tapes arrived in 1982 heralding smaller
portable decks, and not long after camcorders. Sony’s response was the Betamax
camcorder or Betamovie. It was a record-only system, crude by comparison with
JVC’s elegant Videomovie machines. For the first time Betamax seemed at a
disadvantage. Rather than develop the format for portable applications Sony
were working on an entirely new sub-compact format called 8mm, but from the
outside it looked as though only JVC and VHS had all the answers.

At the back end of 1983 the market began to show the first
signs of polarisation towards VHS. ITT abandoned V2000 and went over to VHS.
The first high-profile Betamax defector was Toshiba, who gave up with Betamax
in the Summer of 1984, and in September they were joined by Philips-owned Pye.
Philips introduced their own range of VHS machines in early 1985, with Grundig
following by the Autumn. Sanyo struggled with Beta until early 1985, even
though their Fisher subsidiary had started selling VHS machines six months
previously. That effectively left Sony isolated.

They finally bowed to the inevitable and launched their
first VHS video recorder in mid 1988. Sony made it clear they were not ditching
the Betamax, and went on to launch a high-performance ‘HD Beta’ variant. Indeed, to this day you can still get
Betamax machines on special order. Betamax lingered a little longer in the US
and the format lives on in the broadcast arena, but it was effectively the end
of an era.

HD Beta was Sony’s last attempt to revive the format’s
struggling fortunes. It coincided with a similar development from JVC, who
devised the Super VHS system. The first Super VHS VCRs were launched in Japan
in 1987 amid much optimistic talk, that it would take VHS into the next decade
and beyond. Technically it was most impressive, unfortunately it failed on two
counts. The best results could only be obtained on TVs fitted with specialised
S-Video input socketry. Very few sets had this facility ten years ago -- even
now only about half of today’s new TV have it -- and improvements in picture
quality were not that easy to spot on off-air recordings. It may just have
succeeded if there had been any pre-recorded movies but hardware sales never
came anywhere close to achieving the critical mass need by the film duplication
companies. S-VHS is still with us, but it remains a niche product, appealing
mostly to owners of high-band camcorders, who use S-VHS equipment for editing.

By the end of the 1980s and early 90’s improvements in video
tape, deck manufacture and video processing had taken VHS to the limits of its
performance capabilities. Manufacturers turned their attention to so-called
added-value features, like simpler timers, and the inevitable gadgets. The
story of video recorder timers could fill an entire book on its own, the quest
to find a easier way to program a VCR timer has taken us down some very strange
paths indeed. Suffice it say they continue to confound a lot of people, but
they’re a whole lot better than some of the wacky and sometimes downright daft
ideas we’ve had to put up with.

The design and layout of video recorder has undergone some
fairly fundamental changes in the past ten years too. Mid-mount decks started
to appear in the late 1980s, though ironically that marked a return to the
first generation ‘piano-key’ VCRs, which had centrally mounted tape carriers.
JVC brought us the sideways deck mechanism in 1987, there was a brief flurry of
interest in VCRs with digital effects systems at around the same time. At the
press of a button the picture could be ‘pixellated’, ‘solarised’ or frozen, for
no apparently good reason. A couple of decks also sported picture-in-picture
displays, though again no-one could figure out why. Philips came up with a
couple of crazy features in 1989. They included a VCR with a talking remote
control handset, and one really bizarre machine with a LCD screen, built into
the front panel.

Manufacturers have stopped trying to outdo each other with
daft features but the scramble for market share continues. On-going price
reductions on mid-market models has put the squeeze on cheaper mono machine and
they’re now on the way out. Three-head mono VCRs have all but disappeared,
leaving just 2-head budget machines and a handful of 4-head mono models (the
extra heads give improved LP and trick-frame performance). NICAM machines are
likely to account for more than 50% of all sales by the end of next year,
there’s speculation that mono decks will have been dropped by most
manufacturers within a couple of years.

The big question is how much longer can VHS survive, and
what is going to replace it? There’s seems little doubt that VHS video
recorders will be around for another ten years at least. The format is simply
too well entrenched, and there’s too much software in circulation for it to
disappear overnight. In any case it will take any new format at least that long
to become fully established.

At the moment there are five possible contenders. Ready and
available is DVC or digital video cassette. Developed by Sony for use in
camcorders it has industry-wide support, though at the moment they’re the only
ones to market a homedeck VCR. The DHR1000 costs around £3000 and it’s aimed at
serious video movie makers. It makes one helluva home cinema machine too, it’s
just a shame there’s no pre-recorded tapes. Also in production, though not yet
available here, is D-VHS. Digital, (or ‘data’) VHS was primarily designed by
JVC as a VCR for digital television. Currently it’s the only format capable of
recording an uncompressed digital datastream from terrestrial or satellite
transmitters. D-VHS video recorders are backwards compatible with ordinary VHS
(and S-VHS) recordings, so it’s off to a good start. A recordable version of
the DVD format has been developed. It’s more or less ready to go but manufacturers
and the movie industry are reluctant to let it loose. They’re concerned about a
range of issues, including copyright and piracy, and damaging their market
shares for VHS equipment, while the format still has some life left in it.
Waiting in the wings is a new fixed-head digital tape system developed by
Philips. DigaMax bears a lot of
similarities to the ill-fated DCC audio cassette system; it shares similar
microchip tape head technology and tracks are recorded linearly; cassettes can
hold up to seven hours worth of high-quality video.

It would be rash to make any predictions, but we reckon it’s
worth putting ten bob on recordable DVD, assuming of course that it takes off.
Tape-based systems suffer from three inherent drawbacks. They have many more
moving parts to wear out, magnetic recordings are easily corrupted or erased,
and tape has vastly slower access times, compared with disc-based systems. VHS
is a real survivor and in spite of its limitations it’s going to be around a
while longer, lets wish it a twenty-first and look forward to the silver
anniversary in September 2001.

BOX OUTS

BOX COPY 1

FIVE CLASSIC VCRS

* JVC HR-7700, £720, 1981

The most advanced machine of its day with a motorised front
loading deck mechanism, infra-red remote control, trick play and Dolby noise
reduction. A real bargain for only £720...

* Sony C7, £630, 1980

A true classic, one of the first VCRs to have automatic
tuning, infra-red remote control, trick play facilities and outstanding picture
quality. It looked the business and they were built like brick outhouses

* Akai VS-12, £800, 1984

Not the first stereo hi-fi VCR but easily the best equipped.
On screen displays and remote timer programming were a feature on Akai machine
ten years before everyone else

* Panasonic NV-L28, £450, 1989

Another milestone VCR, this time the first VHS video
recorder with NTSC playback on an ordinary PAL TV. Timeless good looks and
video performance that would shame some of today’s mid-market machines

* Mitsubishi HS-B70, £1000, 1988

Unofficially the first PAL Super VHS VCR, it actually
received a round of applause at a secret press preview in Japan... Superb
picture and sound quality and loads of extras

BOX COPY 2

FIVE CURRENT CLASSICS

* JVC HR-J935, £450

A real breath of fresh air, JVC’s dynamic drum system is the
first really new and useful playback feature we’ve seen in a long while. Now
you can whizz though a movie in under half an hour, and not miss a thing!

* Philips VR-969, £800

At a time when it’s difficult to tell one VCR from another
the VR-969 must rate as the most distinctive machine on the market with that
analogue clock stuck in the middle of the front panel. It works really well
too...

* Akai VS-G2DPL, £500

They’ve still got it! Akai have been major innovators over
the years, and they’re still capable of a few surprises, like this sub-£500
home cinema machine with built-in Dolby Pro Logic decoder

* Panasonic HD-625, £400

No wacky features or gimmicks, just a good basic
specification and top-notch AV performance and the kind of build quality that
means it’ll still be earning its wages long after its contemporaries have bowed
out at the local car boot sale

* Sony DHR-1000, £3000

The first and so far the only DVC video recorder. It has the
lot, stunning good looks, AV performance to die for and an excellent range of
editing facilities. The only thing it can’t do is play VHS tapes...

BOX COPY 3

THE TAPES THAT MADE IT POSSIBLE

You can’t talk about the history of VHS without mentioning
developments in video tape. When the first VCRs appeared twenty one years ago
the maximum running time was just two hours and at the time some doubt was
expressed whether they could be extended. Within a year of launch the first
3-hour cassettes appeared and by the mid 1980’s thinner base films had allowed
four hour E-240 tapes to be developed. In 1989 BASF announced a 5-hour tape; it
eventually disappeared following concerns over performance and reliability on
older machines.

Tape coatings, changes to the magnetic formulations and
trick additives have had an enormous impact on tape performance over the years.
The most noticeable changes has been the reduction in noise levels, brought
about by the use of finer and more efficient magnetic particles. Tapes have
become a lot more stable as well. Drop-out, caused by shedding of the magnetic
layer has been dramatically reduced by the use of longer lasting coatings and
binders.

Scotch were so confident about the quality and longevity of
their tapes they offered a ‘Lifetime’ guarantee, that the rest of the industry
were forced to follow. Better quality tape has also helped improve VCR
reliability; tape head wear is reduced and there’s less contamination of the
deck mechanism.

The arrival of stereo hi-fi VCRs in the late 1980’s brought
with it a range of improvements in tape manufacture. Quality control procedures
had to be tightened due to narrower tolerances, lubricants and new coatings
were developed to reduce friction and Fuji introduced their now famous ‘double
coating’, technology to maximise stereo recording quality.

BOX COPY 4

VHS TIMELINE

1971

JVC begin development work on home video recording system

1972

VHS Development Matrix sets out main features and
specifications. Philips launch first domestic video cassette recorder (N1500)
for £315, equivalent to more than £1800 today!

1973

First VHS prototypes built in secret

1974

JVC development team see prototype Betamax machine and
conclude it is no threat